Apparatus for pumping meat or poultry offal



Dec. 1, 1964 A. w. FRIESEN 3,159,315

APPARATUS FOR PUMPING MEAT OR POULTRY OFFAL Filed April 30, 1962 2 INVENTOR. 1 l 465697 m FP/'Jf/V F 7- E- F 7 BY United States Patent 3,159,315 AlI ARATUS FQR PUlVlPsl G MEAT GR PGULTRY (EFK AL Albert W. Frieseu, R6. Box 889, Detroit Lakes, Minn. Filed Apr. 3i), ism, Ser. No. 199,928 4 Claims. (l. 222-252) This invention relates to the field of pumping apparatus and more particularly to the field of apparatus for pumping semi-liquid mink feed material or the like which contains solid pieces similar to meat and poultry offal.

One of the most common problems encountered in the raising of mink is the problem of feeding the mink the proper food and keeping them on a diet which they are accustomed to while in their natural habitat. Generally, different types of meat and poultry and fish products are fed to the mink to keep up their protein content in their diet. It is also important to insure that the proper amount of calcium and minerals are supplied to the animals during their growing period and for this reason, the meat, poultry, or meat ofial usually contains some ground up or broken pieces of bone. in the offal, are piece of skin and cartilagaor gristle. In other words, the protein and mineral content is obtained through the meat, poultry, or fish ofial which may be supplemented with other types of solid or liquid feed, the combination forming a semi-liquid feed material which contains the solid pieces just referred to. As can be imagined, this type of mixture is-heavy and requires means for not only moving it or transporting it to the feeding areas but also because of its semi-liquid nature, requires additional means for getting the mixture from the container to the feeding areas with a minimum amount of work. Various methods have been initiated to pump the semi-liquid material from a tank or container to the feeding troughs or feeding pens but difiiculty has been countered due to the solid pieces of bone and other materials found in the offal. Because of the pieces in the offal, special pumps or positive feed mechanisms have been required to handle the feed mixtures.

I have found that by modifying a rotary gear pump, that the pump will handle all food mixtures, including those containing bone particles and other solid materials which are used in the feed for mink or other animals requiring similar feed. By using the modified structure of a rotary gear pump, I am able to pump the mink feed containing the solid pieces found in the meat, poultry, or fish offal from the container which is movable, to the mink pens or feeding areas.

It is therefore a general object of my invention to provide an improvement in pumping apparatus for pumping semi-liquid mink feed materials from a container.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an improvement in pump apparatus for pumping semiliquid materials used for animal feed containing pieces of solid material similar to meat and poultry offal.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an improvement in apparatus for pumping meat or poultry oifal from a tank for mink feeding purposes. It is still a further object of this invention to provide a rotary gear type pump having suhicient clearance between the gears for admitting bone particles to be moved through the pump.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a rotary gear type pump driven and positively fed by an anger located in a tank of semi-liquid mink feed ma terial containing solid pieces similar to meat and poultry offal. v

These and other objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear from the following description, made in connection with the accompanying drawings,

Along with the bone which is contained I attests Fatenteel Dec. 1, l94

wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a drawing of the pump mounted on a feed transporting apparatus having a portion of the tank shown in cut away sections; A

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the rotary gear pump taken along section lines 2-2 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 3 is an elevation view of the pump with the outside cover removed showing the modification to the gears contained therein; and

FIG. 4 is an operational diagram showing the power driving arrangement.

FIG. 1 shows a cart or power driven tractor 10 which is driven by a pair of wheels and is steerable by a front wheel. Any means of moving the apparatus from one location to another is satisfactory for the purposes of illustrating my invention. Mounted upon cart It is a tank It as shown in FIG. 1 which has a broken or cut away portion lla showing the inside of the tank. Generally, the tank is formed with sloping sides or with a rounded bottom or possibly both. Situated in the bottom of tank ll is a screw type auger 12 which is journalled in a bearing 13 at the front end of the tank iii. A shaft 14 which is coextensive with the shaft of anger screw 12 extends beyond the front end of tank ll and has a sprocket gear 15 connected thereto. Another shaft 16 is journalled in a pair of bearings 17 and 1S. Bearing 17 is fastened to the front end of tank 11 and a bracket 19 which is fastened totank 11 by bolts or other suitable means 2% extends downwardly from its point of attachment near the top of tank 11 and outwardly to house bearing 1?. Situated between bracket 19 and the front end of tank 11, are a pair of sprocket gears 21 and 22 where gear 21 is relatively small in comparison to gear 22. lso, gear 15 is approximately the same size as gear 22. A sprocket chain 23 connects sprocket gear 15 to sprocket gear 21 and a motor 24 (not shown in FIG. 1) has a shaft 25 which has a sprocket gear 26 connected thereto with a sprocket chain 27 connecting sprocket gears 22 and 26. Sprocket gear 22 is approximately the same size as sprocket gear 15 and sprocket gear 26 is approximately the same size as sprocket gear 21. It is obvious that the sprocket gears can take on different diameters and that different gearing arrangements may be made, keeping in mind, that the amount of torque required to rotate auger screw 12 and the speed with which it turns should be kept at optimum operating characteristics. Cart It? also has a platform 28 associated near the 'rear side andnear the bottom portion of the cart so that the operator may stand upon the platform during movemerit of the cart through the feeding areas."

Situated at the rear end of tank ii is a pump 3t? which has an outlet or discharge orifice 31. located near the top of the pump. Connected to the orifice, is a flexible tubing 32 which terminates in a nozzle 33 for directing the flow of the semi-liquid material described previously.

- As will be seen later, pump 3h has a shaft 34 which is coupled to the shaft of auger screw 12 through a square shank coupling 35. That is, the end of shaft 34 has a square, and reduced cross sectional area, that fits with a female mating portion 35 forming the releasable coupling. As will be seen later, by the removal of bolts or The housing 36 is completed by an integrally formed plate 41 and by a flanged front member 4Z7which extends as bolts 20. A triangular shaped opening 44 is cut in plate: 41 near the bottom of the plate and near and adjacent to side 40 of housing-.36. Opening 44 forms the inlet" orifice to the pump so that the semi-liquid material maybe easily forced into. the pump 3%. Situated upon shaft 34, is a gear 45 where gear 45 is fixedly fastened to shaft 34, the shaft being journalled in a bushing formed in plate 41 and in'another bushing 46 formed in 'the'outer edge of :;plate 43.

in other words, shaft 34 rotates gear 45 within housing 36 and specifically gear 45 communicates with the semicircular shaped end 38 of the housing. Another shaft 47 is located within housing 30 and is fixedly connected to a. gear 48 which is in working communication with gear 45. Shaft 47 is journalled in plate 41 andi'is journalled in cover plate 43 in the same manner; as journal 46. Gear48 is in free rotating communication with semi-circular shapedendlfl. As can best be seen in FIG. 3, auger screw 12 is shown in material delivering relationship with pump inlet orifice 44 so that the; heavier particles which will not flow of their own accord are forced directly into pump 39 in communication with gears 45 and 48 so that the material is caught by the gear ference between the dedendum and the addendum dis-i tances. In other words, the distance between the end of a tooth and the bottom of the mating space has been' increased by cutting away some of the material below'the root circle of the gear to provide an additional space therebetween designated as numeral it being understood that this additional clearance is provided between each of'the mating gear teeth of gears'45 and 43. It is this additional clearance that allows the offal containing boneparticles and other such solid particles ofskin'and gristle to 'be compressed therein andallows the largen par ticles, that were trapped between the teeth to pass through the pump without jamming. As can readily be. understood, if a piece of solid materialwere to be compressed between a pair of normal gears, the gear teeth will bind outwardly and away from housing 36 so that a cover plate 43 may be attached thereto by suitable means such 11 without cutting a hole in the tank and merely extend the flexible tubing 32 up the inside of the tank. For other situations, it may be more desirable to locate pump 3t) below the bottom of tank 11 where opening 44 is in communication with the bottom of tank 11, it being understood that a common opening in tank 11 would communicate with opening 44 to allow the material to enter opening 44 and of course this may be aided by the use of anger screw 12.

Returning briefly to the pump 30, I have found that when the'clearance between the Working depth of the tooth of one spur gear which is measured from the addendum circle radially inward, and the root circle of the other gear, is approximately equal tof to /4 inch for a gear defining an addendum circle with a i diameter of approximately four inches, that satisfactory performance is obtained. That is, the spacing between the ends of the teeth of the first gear and the mating spaces of the second gear is sufiicient to admit the solid material pieces of the'semi-iliquid material. In other words, the spur gears, from their pitch circle'radially,

out-Ward are formed in a normal fashiombut the clearance between the end of a mating tooth of a first gear between i two teeth of a second mating gear and the root circle and will jam together in such a manner as to render the pump inoperable. With the additional clearance, these so called. solid pieces are allowed to rotate in' the addi-' tional; clearance space which is not possible with the previous type rotarygear pumps available. V

. Since cover plate 43 is easily removable, and because shafts 3'4- and 47 are iourna-lled in bearings in the cover plate 43 which is easily removable, both. gears'45 and 48 with their associated shafts 34 and 47 are easily removable for cleaning the entire pump if so desired. It should also be'apparent that by the introduction of water into tank 11, that gears 45 and 48 will force the water out' through orifice 31 and flexible tubing 32 to flush out the V only during those periods when it is desirable to do so.

.- To aid'the suction created by pump 3cm moving the semi-liquidfeed material into communication with pump 30 by auger screw 12, an opening 53 is formed in tank 11 which is generally of the same size and dimensions as opening 44 in pump 3b, and is in communication there- 7 with to allow the semi-liquid material to be removed from tank 11.. Itishould also be obvious thatfor some applications, it'ma'y be desirable to locatepuinp 3i in the tank the pump will 7 of the second mating gear has been increased an amount sutficientto allow the largest s'olid particles to be compressed therebetween and pass back from the outlet orifice to the inlet orifice and be mixed with incomingmaterial to be carried again to the outlet orifice.

moved to the feeding area. The-feed material is then directed to the pump inlet orifice/44 by closing switch 52 and causing rotation of auger screw 12 to move the feed into the inlet orifice; Gears 45 and 48 pick up the feed material and because of the cooperating action between the gears, where gear 48 is rotated counterclock-' wise and gear 45 is rotated clockwise, the feed is directed outwardly against ends 37 and 38 respectively and-upwardly toward the outlet orifice -31. Some solid particles of the 'feed may be carried past the outlet 31 by the teeth. Any solid partioleswhich have remained bctween the teeth are compressed into the clearance where they out'of the way, such particles are pushed along with the A liquid material through the outlet of the pump. this manner, such particles are prevented from jamming: V

the pump. "Of course the feed'is directed to the particular area desired by flexible tubing '32 and once a sufiioient amount of feed has been deposited switch 52- is opened thereby stopping the pumpingoperation.

From the foregoing description of my invention it will be seen that I have provided means :for pumping semiliq-uid mink feed material or the like which contains sol-id pieces similar to meat and poultry offal.

be understood, the use of such a device will ultimately result in a. saving in labor costs to the operator of'the. equipment.

is pumped from the tank to the feed area. Because of thesimplicity of the apparatus; it is quite easy .to' clean and the maintenance costs are extremely low In operation, thesemi-liquid mink feed material or the V like which contains solid pieces similar to meat and poultry ofia-l is loaded into tank 11 and the cart 10 is As can readily By the use of the pump which has theclearance increased between the cooperating teeth, it is 7 possible topump the solid particles along with the liquid.

material which heretofore has been impossible. with the I use of gear type pumps. By the use of theauger' for positive feed of the pump, a continuous supply of feed 7 While the material used to make gears 45 and 48 is generally formed from iron, it may also be desirable to form the gears from certain types of plastics such as nylon or Teflon. It may be found that other suitable plastics may be used which are readily machineab-le and which resist corrosion and have a high resistance to wear. It is well known that there are several plastics which are highly resistant to moisture and it may be beneficial to use some form of plastic if the :feed should produce toxic results when combined with certain types of. metals. It will of course be understood that the plastic gears 45 and 43 would have the same general characteristics as those formed from metal such as iron, particularly in regards to their final shape.

In regards to the descriptions set forth (for gears 45 and 48, reference may be had to pages 492 and 493 of Technical Drawing by Frederick E. Giesecke, Alva Mitchell, and Henry C. Spencer, Second Edition, published by the Macmillan Company.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement, and proportions of the parts without departing from the scope of my invention which consists of the matter shown and described herein and set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A power driven pump for pumping semi-liquid mink feed material or the like which contains solid pieces, similar to meat and poultry offal comprising:

(a) a housing having a pair of diametrically disposed substantially semi-circular shaped ends joined by first and second sides oppositely disposed and substantially parallel to tangents of said ends with third and fourth sides overlying and attached to said ends and said first and second side-s to form a chamber;

(b) a discharge orifice formed in one of said first and second sides approximately midway between said semi-circular ends for discharging the material from said pump;

() a first power driven spur gear having an imperforate hub supported for rotation within said chamber in one of said semi-circular ends, said spur gear having normal pitch and addendum circles including non-compressible teeth with more than normal clearance between its working depth measured radially inward from the addendum circle and its root circle as defined by the gear hub, the addendum circle of said spur gear defining a diameter less than the diameter defined by said semi-circular shaped ends;

(d) a second spur gear having an int-perforate hub supported for rotation in a direction opposite to said first spur gear within said chamber in the other of said semi-circular ends and disposed to cooperatively engage said first spur gear, said second spur gear having non-compressible teeth with more than normal clearance between its working depth and root circle so that spaces between the ends of the teeth of said first spur gear and the mating spaces of said second spur gear are sufiicient to admit the solid material pieces of the semi-liquid material and rotate therewith, the addendum circle of said second spur gear defining a diameter less than the diameter defined by said semi-circular shaped ends;

(e) and an inlet orifice formed in one of said sides but disposed away from said discharge orifice facing adjacent to the teeth of said first and second spur gears and causing the semi-liquid material to flow in communication therewith and carry the solid pieces out through said discharge orifice at a rate proportional to the rate of rotation of said first and second gears.

2. A power driven pump for pumping semi-liquidmink feed material or the like which contains solid pieces similar to meat and poultry offal comprising:

(a) a housing having a pair of diametrically disposed substantially semi-circular shaped ends joined by first and second sides oppositely disposed and substantially parallel to tangents of said ends with third and fourth sides overlying said ends and said first and second sides to form a chamber;

(b) a discharge orifice formed in one of said first and second sides approximately midway between said semi-circular ends for discharging the material from said pump;

(c) a first power driven spur gear having an imperforate hub supported for rotation within said chamber in one of said semi-circular ends, said spur gear having non-compressible teeth, the ends of which define its addendum circle with clearance space between its working depth and root circle substantially equal to the largest particle contained in such semi-liquid feed material, the working depth extending radially inward from said addendum circle and the root circle defining the gear hub circumference, the addendum circle of said spur gear defining a diameter less than the diameter defined by said semi-circular shaped ends;

(d) and a second spur gear having an imperforate hub supported for rotation in a direction opposite to said first spur gear within said chamber in the other of said semi-circular ends and disposed to cooperatively engage said first spur gear, said second spur gear having non-compressible teeth clearance between its working depth and root circle substantially equal to the largest particle contained in such 'semidiquid feed material so that spaces between the ends of the teeth of said first spur gear and the mating spaces of said second spur gear are sufiicient to admit the solid material pieces of the semi-liquid material and rotate therewith, the addendum circle of said second spur gear defining a diameter less than the diameter defined by said semi-circular shaped ends;

(e) and, an inlet orifice formed in one of said third and fourth sides and disposed away from said discharge orifice and adjacent to a peripheral edge of said chamber and the teeth of said first and second spur gears causing the semi-liquid material to flow in communication therewith and carry the solid pieces out through said discharge orifice at a rate proportional to the rate of rotation of said first and second gears.

3. Power driven apparatus for pumping semi-liquid mink feed material or the like which contains solid pieces similar to meat and poultry ofial from a storage tank, comprising:

(a) a tank for containing a semi-liquid material, said tank having a pair of sides and a bottom with a first and second end joined thereto;

(b) a gear type pump having a housing containing inlet and discharge orifices communicating with a chamber including diametrically disposed semi-circular shaped ends in which are disposed a pair of communicating gears having imperforate hubs and non-compressible teeth, said gears being journalled in I said housing chamber on a pair of shafts so that spaces between the ends of the teeth and the root circles of said gears are sufficient to admitthe solid pieces of the semi-liquid material, at least one'of said gears being fixedly coupled through one of said pair of shafts, the addendum circles of said gear defining a diameter lessthan the diameter defined by said semi-circular shaped end-s;

(0) means fastening the inlet orifice of said pump in communicating relationship with said tank;

(d) an auger rotatably supported within said tank andv in material delivering relationship with said pump inlet orifice;

' (e) a motor operatively connected to said auger and said shaft fixedly coupled to one of said gears for rotation thereof;

(f) and, flexible'tubing connected to the discharge orifice of said pump to control the direction of flow of the serni-liqui'd material; therefrom;

4. Power driven apparatus for pumping semi-liquid mink feed material or the like Whichcontains solid pieces similar to meat and poultry ofifal from astorage tank, comprising:

(a) a tank for containing a semi-liquid material, said tank-having a pair of sides and a-bottorn with a pair oi ends joined thereto, said tankhaving'an opening formed therein communicating with said bottom;

(b); a gearstype pump having ahousing containing 'inletand discharge orifices communicating with a chamber including diametrically disposed semi-circular shaped; ends in which are disposed a pair of communicating gears having irnperforate hubs; and non-compressible teeth, said gears being journ-a'lled in saidhousing chamber on a pair ofishaf-ts so. that defining a diameter less filan the diameter defined by said semi-circular shaped; ends;

(a) means fastening the inlet or-iiiccof said pump; relationship with said opening in in communicating said tank; V

(d) motor means 'operatively connected in driving relationship to said pump;

(2) and tubing means 'connectedto "the discharge orifice of said'pump to control the direction of flo of; the serni-liquid-material therefrom.

Weigert Sept. 11,1962 

3. POWER DRIVEN APPARATUS FOR PUMPING SEMI-LIQUID MINK FEED MATERIAL OR THE LIKE WHICH CONTAINS SOLID PIECES SIMILAR TO MEAT AND POULTRY OFFAL FROM A STORAGE TANK, COMPRISING: (A) A TANK FOR CONTAINING A SEMI-LIQUID MATERIAL, SAID TANK HAVING A PAIR OF SIDES AND A BOTTOM WITH A FIRST AND SECOND END JOINED THERETO; (B) A GEAR TYPE PUMP HAVING A HOUSING CONTAINING INLET AND DISCHARGE ORIFICES COMMUNICATING WITH A CHAMBER INCLUDING DIAMETRICALLY DISPOSED SEMI-CIRCULAR SHAPED ENDS IN WHICH ARE DISPOSED A PAIR OF COMMUNICATING GEARS HAVING IMPERFORATE HUBS AND NON-COMPRESSIBLE TEETH, SAID GEARS BEING JOURNALLED IN SAID HOUSING CHAMBER ON A PAIR OF SHAFTS SO THAT SPACES BETWEEN THE ENDS OF THE TEETH AND THE ROOT CIRCLES OF SAID GEARS ARE SUFFICIENT TO ADMIT THE SOLID PIECES OF THE SEM-LIQUID MATERIAL, AT LEAST ONE OF SAID GEARS BEING FIXEDLY COUPLED THROUGH ONE OF SAID PAIR OF SHAFTS, THE ADDENDUM CIRCLES OF SAID GEAR DEFINING A DIAMETER LESS THAN THE DIAMETER DEFINED BY SAID SEMI-CIRCULAR SHAPED ENDS; (C) MEANS FASTENING THE INLET ORIFICE OF SAID PUMP IN COMMUNICATING RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID TANK; (D) AN AUGER ROTATABLY SUPPORTED WITHIN SAID TANK AND IN MATERIAL DELIVERING RELATIONSHIP WITH SAID PUMP INLET ORIFICE; (E) A MOTOR OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID AUGER AND SAID SHAFT FIXEDLY COUPLED TO ONE OF SAID GEARS FOR ROTATION THEREOF; (F) AND, FLEXIBLE TUBING CONNECTED TO THE DISCHARGE ORIFICE OF SAID PUMP TO CONTROL THE DIRECTION OF FLOW OF THE SEMI-LIQUID MATERIAL THEREFROM. 